Switched
by lon'quesadilla
Summary: Nothing felt too off about the babies that the new mothers had been given back at the hospital, but suspicions arise when the babies seem to like the opposite mother better.


I realize and acknowledge the complete ignoring of canon in this because their birthdays are _months apart and so this would never happen_ , but consider it ignored for the sake of this story because it seemed like a fun idea at the time I wrote it. Enjoy!

* * *

Perhaps the best thing about being pregnant together was the fact that it meant their babies would probably end up being the best of friends. Their mothers were, so why wouldn't their kids be?

Neither of the pregnancies had been planned, the timing had just been perfect. The news had been revealed to one another over tea one afternoon, the dual exclamations bringing Vaike and Libra from the garage to see what was wrong.

"It's simply the best news, ever!" said Maribelle. "It turns out we're both expecting."

"Oh, this is great, Maribelle!" Lissa said, clapping her hands together. "We'll get to go through this together, and they're going to be the best of friends!"

"Are ya sure?" Vaike asked. "I mean that yer both expectin'."

"Pretty sure. The fact that it's at the same time is just simply wonderful."

"Naga works in mysterious ways." Libra cut in. "If it was so meant to be, so be it."

These words stuck,and stayed with the girls throughout the first few weeks. At the next doctor's appointment, it was discovered that the due dates were even around the same time. Of course it all depended on the baby's schedules, but even if they were born within a week of each other, it would be special.

The pregnancies went pretty smoothly; each new milestone was shared between the girls at their daily special tea drinking sessions. Sometimes during these, they would put a hand to the other's stomach to feel the little feet kicking there, and other times the conversations would turn to possible baby names.

Another big discovery was finding out what the babies were together, and even more confirmation that they'd be best friends came at the reveal they were both having little boys. Little sports loving, bug-chasing boys. The news was exciting, but the fantasies they'd discussed about having little girls who would love to dress up and one day join their tea sessions were dashed.

Even better than they had hoped, the two women went into labor at nearly the same time, and while this meant they couldn't participate in the other's birthing process as had been the alternate plan, it did mean the boys would probably share a birthday and be in the hospital together. Lissa and Maribelle would later learn that their babies ended up being born just about an hour apart from each other, in the wee hours of the morning after the long first labors the mothers had experienced.

Despite all the new baby excitement, since the labors had been long, it meant the two babies had to be taken almost immediately after birth to the nursery for all sorts of tests instead of being able to stay in the room with their exhausted mothers. In the end, everything turned out to be okay, and after a little more than an hour, they got to go back to the rooms to bond with their parents.

Except for one thing: sometime in the process of the nursery business, the little card with the room numbers where the babies belonged got switched. The baby belonging to Lissa and Libra ended up with Maribelle and Vaike, and vise versa; because the little ones hadn't had enough time to bond with their mothers after they were born, Lissa and Maribelle noticed nothing strange about the baby they had been handed by the nurse. And since they had not been officially given their chosen names, there were no definite identifying signs on which baby was which.

The bonding and naming of the babies commenced, and neither party felt a difference in the baby which wasn't theirs.

* * *

They got to go home the day after the babies were born, and once home, the girls immediately planned a meet up so their sons could officially 'meet' and begin the road to best friendship. While they pretty much slept the whole time, minus waking up once to feed, this meeting was made more so the mothers could discuss their birthing experiences.

Still, they found nothing weird or off about the sleeping babies. And they wouldn't until the kids got a bit older.

The first sign something was a little off was when the boys were about a month old. Lissa had been in the other room for just a moment while Maribelle tended to the boys, and out of the blue, the baby who belonged to Lissa set off on a crying tangent. The noise caused the other baby to turn his head to try to find the source, but by that time, Maribelle had picked him up and had begun cuddling him close to try to make him stop crying, cooing to him that his mother would be back soon. Hearing her voice caused his crying to lessen almost immediately.

Lissa came back to the room after hearing her child's cries, and Maribelle had handed her friend her son back quickly. The crying started up again once he was with Lissa, and after trying everything, Maribelle offered to take him again.

"If you want to try, sure." Lissa said, handing the baby back to her. She took him into her arms and he calmed down fast, comforted by her patting his back with one hand.

"There, there, little one." Maribelle cooed. "Everything is alright."

The baby let out a little sigh and laid his head on her shoulder, completely calm and nearly asleep again.

"Aw, you did it!" Lissa whispered, giving her a thumbs up. "Good job. He must really love his aunt."

"I hope so." Maribelle whispered back, smiling. "Now, please take your son so he can get a proper nap in his carseat."

Lissa nodded, and took the now-sleeping baby back as Maribelle picked her own son up, beginning to try to rock him to sleep, as well.

A few weeks later the same thing happened, except this time it was Maribelle's baby who wouldn't calm down until Lissa had rocked and cooed to him, finally putting him to sleep.

"Babies can just go through periods of who their favorites are, apparently." Maribelle said. "These two have proven it."

"Is it normal, though?" Lissa asked.

"Some of the mother chatrooms online have said so." Maribelle answered with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"Well...you don't think it's weird that sometimes neither his dad or I can get him to calm down and go to sleep, but you can? I mean no offense, I love that he calms down with you, since you are his auntie and everything."

"I was merely taking it as the favorites thing. And it's not just your baby. I feel the same way when my Brady only calms down for you after we do everything in our power to try to get him to sleep sometimes."

"I feel like a failure as a mom when it happens like that." Lissa said with a sigh.

"Me too, my dear, but I'm sure it's just a phase. They are only two months old, after all."

"That's true." Lissa agreed. "They'll probably grow out of it."

"I am sure of it."

When they still didn't actually grow out of it at four months old, the mothers grew concerned, especially since it was turning into more than just being put to sleep from the other's coos and rockings. It was also turning into staying content only being in the other's arms for periods of time as they went about their days (or, tried to, with constantly holding a baby in their arms).

"I just don't get it, Maribelle." Lissa said, as a content baby that wasn't her own lay cradled in her arms.

"Neither do I." Maribelle replied, gently playing with the thin hair atop the baby's head she was holding.

"Do you think the doctor would be able to tell us anything, or will they also just say its's probably a phrase?"

"Oh, they would probably say just that. We're going to have to get through this by ourselves, I think."

Each day following seemed a bit rougher, especially at the end of the day when the trading back of the babies and saying goodbyes took place. The rest of the night was hell until the babies finally calmed down enough to sleep.

One could not properly call it postpartum depression that the ladies had, but it was something close. They didn't feel as close to their babies that they had in the few weeks since birth since it was discovered the baby they had was happier being the other's arms.

"Maribelle, we have to do something." Lissa said into the phone to her best friend, finally hitting her breaking point after she had finally put her baby to sleep.

"I know, dear, I know. I can't bear to hear his cries at night and not be able to make him stop until he tires himself out."

"Maribelle...hear me out, okay? What if we tried, um, switching babies for the night?" she said this last part quickly, feeling immediately guilty for suggesting it.

"Are you suggesting you take care of my Brady for the night and I take care of your Owain?"

"Just for one night! I know that probably makes me sound like the worst mother ever, but-"

"I think we should try. It will be hard, but if it will allow one night of good sleep and a happy baby, I suppose I'm willing to try." Maribelle cut over Lissa.

"O-okay. Tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night." Maribelle agreed.

* * *

The baby swap happened the next night, and each mother reluctantly handed her baby to the other. The babies didn't seem to mind the swap at all, but the guilt the mothers felt was huge.

"Call me later." Maribelle said. "I want to say goodnight to him."

Lissa nodded. "Same. Good luck."

"And to you as well."

There was not a single tear shed from either of the five month old babies the rest of that evening. The suspicion that something was off sat heavy on the minds of both mothers as they watched the others' child that evening.

"Okay, something is definitely up here." Lissa said over the phone a little later. "He's way too calm. I don't think he's even gotten upset once."

"I know, it's the same over here." Maribelle sighed. "I feel so guilty about this, but I'm not even sure why."

"It's because you're not dealing with a crying baby for once." Lissa replied. "You feel guilty because you're happy about it."

"Oh, gods."

"It's okay, I feel the same way."

"So what's he doing right now?" Maribelle asked as a change of subject, her voice growing softer at the question.

"Tummy time on the floor. It's supposed to help him get his muscles stronger so he'll want to start crawling." Lissa explained.

"Cute. I should start that as well."

"How's Vaike taking the baby switch?"

"He was not happy that we did it, but he seems to be enjoying the time with the baby now, since he's not just screaming."

"Hm, same with Libra." Lissa said. "...Maribelle, are we terrible mothers?"

"I'm still stuck on the answer to that, I'm afraid."

There was a brief pause, and in the time both of the ladies listened to the guys in the other room talking to the babies.

"I think we are." Lissa broke the silence.

"Don't think too hard about it."

"How can you say that when my husband is playing with your baby in the other room?" Lissa asked.

"Please don't rub it in."

"Point taken. At least it's a peaceful evening, right?"

"I suppose."

"Give him a kiss for me, alright?"

"And you the same."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Maribelle brought Owain back over the next afternoon, and when she got there, Lissa was on the couch with the sleeping baby in her arms, his baby book sprawled across her lap.

"What are you doing?" Maribelle asked, sitting down next to her on the couch.

"Looking through his baby book, trying to see where I went wrong at being a mom."

"Oh, Lissa, you didn't do anything wrong." Maribelle said, putting a hand over her friend's.

Lissa shrugged. She flipped the page in the book, and came to the page of his delivery announcement.

"Here's his birth certificate. Heh, maybe there was a mistake and I got the wrong baby. That would explain why he doesn't like me."

"He doesn't not like you, he just- wait a minute."

Maribelle leaned in, squinting at the small font on the birth certificate. She then looked at the little hospital bracelet and the birth announcement card with the baby's information from the hospital bassinet.

"Room 145...but that's what room we were in." Maribelle said, pointing to the little paper card stapled next to the birth certificate.

"No it's not, that's what room we had." Lissa said. "I think...wait, why?"

"I swear that's where we were...hang on a moment."

Shifting the sleeping baby she was holding to one arm, she turned to pull her phone out of her purse, unlocking it and opening her photo album.

"Maribelle, what-"

"Hold on, I'm looking for something." she said, and appeared to find it a moment later. She gasped, dropping her phone into her lap and using the hand to cover her mouth.

"What is it?" Lissa asked, loud enough to startle both babies.

"We _were_ in room 145...look at this picture." Maribelle said, picking her phone up and holding it up to Lissa. In it, a tired looking Vaike was pointing to the hospital sticker matching the number on the card Lissa was looking at. They had taken a couple of pictures during the labor for keepsakes, but-

"If you were in room 145 and I have the card from room 145, then that means..." Lissa's eyes widened at the sudden realization.

"Our babies were switched at the hospital." Maribelle said, the conclusion they had both come to.

"That means I've had your baby and you've had my baby this whole time?"

"It seems so."

"Oh gods, we're the worst mothers ever!" Lissa cried, this outburst loud enough to wake both of the sleeping babies, who both awoke with a start and proceeded to start crying.

"Now now, we're not the worst ever...we did see each other every day so it's not as if we deprived them of us." Maribelle said, beginning to rock the upset child in her arms.

"Still! I feel so bad about this!" Lissa said, also beginning to rock her child in her arms before looking down at him. "I'm so sorry, Owain. I should have known."

"There's no way we could have known, though. In the frenzy of their deliveries, we barely got enough time with them at first, remember?"

"I still should have known what my own child looked like, since I gave birth to him."

"But you only got a brief look at him when he came out. Lissa, please don't beat yourself up too bad."

"How are you not freaked out about this, Maribelle? We had each other's babies for the better part of five months!"

"I _am_ freaked out about this, darling, trust me," Maribelle said. "It was a horrible, tragic mistake, and whoever was working in the nursery when this happened should be fired, but again, it's not as if they were taken too far away for too long."

"What's all the yelling in here?" Libra came into the room a moment later. "Oh, Maribelle, it's good to see you."

"The babies were switched at the hospital!" Lissa said, before her friend could greet Libra. "Maribelle and Vaike have had Owain all this time, and we've had Brady all this time!"

Libra's smile immediately dropped. "...Oh, dear. Is this true?"

"Yes! Isn't it terrible?"

"It is, but these boys are very lucky that you two don't live too far away from one another, so they could see their mothers almost every day."

Lissa huffed. "Yes, but that's not the point, you guys!"

"Lissa, it's alright. We never have to speak of this again. They'll never know about this little mishap, alright?"

Lissa sighed. "Alright, I guess."

She looked down at her son, who had stopped crying and was now looking up at her with a little smile.

"So I guess all's well that ends well, yes?" Libra said, coming over to the couch to the mothers and now calmed again babies.

While it would take a little bit of getting used to to take care of the other's baby (even though they had kind of been doing it since the second month), in the end, everything turned out okay.

* * *

Love it, hate it, indifferent to it, all feedback is appreciated. Let me know what you think! c:


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